MovieChat Forums > The Black Cat (1941) Discussion > Minor little flick with a great cast!!

Minor little flick with a great cast!!

posted 18 years ago by TEDPLUS
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This is a fun little mystery, probably too much humor (Hugh Herbert was really annoying), but what a cast. I love the Universal regulars, represented here by Basil Rathbone, Anne Gwynne, and a sadly underused Bela Lugosi. But the real treat is a very young Alan Ladd, the fabulous Gladys Cooper (in a very different role) and our favorite villainess, Gale Sondergaard. Then add a young and light hearted Brod Crawford (as he was billed) and you really have a one-of-a-kind cast of characters. I also agree..let's get some of these lesser known Universal mysteries on DVD. There are a whole list available, such as Night Monster, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Strange Case of Doctor Rx, etc.

[–] Blue-59 14 years ago

Hugh Herbert was a tired relic of vaudeville humor, in which simply "acting zany" by making silly noises or idiotic expressions was considered funny. When "The Black Cat" was made, movie producers still felt obliged to insert comic relief into the pictures, unfortunately usually to their detriment. Even the classics "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" contained some dreary comic relief.

Portraying stumbling drunks on the screen was also the height of hilarity at one time. Well, tastes change.

Ditto about the minor Universal pictures, though. "Night Monster" has finally made it to DVD, along with the minor classic "The Walking Dead," with Karloff, but please let's also have "The Mad Ghoul," with George Zucco, and "The Monster and the Girl," with Mark Lawrence and Paul Lukacs.

[–] 14 years ago

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